Study: Higher Education Playing Bigger Role In Gender Wage Gap

While higher education has helped women narrow their long-running wage gap with men, there is one college-related factor that has becoming increasingly important in perpetuating that gap, according to new research.

And that factor is college major.

Women are still segregated into college majors that will lead them to careers with less pay than men, says Donna Bobbitt-Zeher, author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University at Marion.

"Gender segregation in college is becoming more influential in how men and women are rewarded later in life," Bobbitt-Zeher says.

"If you really want to eliminate earnings inequality, college major segregation is a piece of the puzzle that really stands out."

The findings are especially important now because many people assume that, if anything, college helps women more than it helps men nowadays.

"A lot of people look at data showing that women are more likely to go to college than men, and that women get better grades in college than men, and assume that everything is all right," she says.

"But this research suggests there are still problems for women that relate to college."

Bobbitt-Zeher presented her research August 9 in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

She used data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. With these data sets, she was able to compare women who graduated from high school in 1972 and 1992. She compared the incomes of college graduates seven years after their high school graduations, in 1979 and 1999. Both samples included about 10,000 cases.

Findings showed the income gap between college-educated men and women declined significantly in 20 years – in 1979, women's earnings were 78 percent of their male counterparts, but by 1999 the women were earning 83 percent as much as men.

Using well-accepted statistical techniques, Bobbitt-Zeher estimates how much of that income difference between men and women was explained by various factors in 1979 versus 1999. Some of the factors she examined included occupations and industries that men and women work in; background, including socioeconomic status and race; how much individuals valued earning a lot of money; factors related to parental and martial status; SAT scores; the colleges that people attended and whether they earned graduate degrees; and, of course, the percentage of women in their college majors.

Findings showed that about 19 percent of the income gap between college-educated men and women in 1999 could be explained by their college major -– nearly twice as much as in 1979, when 10 percent of the gap was explained by college major.

Although work-related characteristics combine to explain a bigger share of the gap, no other single known factor was more important than college major in explaining the income gap in 1999.

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Vending: The Ultimate Job With Flex Time

Maybe you are a busy parent doing everything you can to care for your children. Perhaps you're looking to devote more of yourself to community service and looking to find some opportunity to provide the income to make that happen. Or maybe you're just tired of the 9-to-5 rat race and looking for a little break.

Whatever your need for a more flexible schedule while maintaining a good personal income, vending -- particularly with multivend, the largest bulk vending machine company -- is a superior choice for any entrepreneur. After all, bulk vending is a 100% cash business and can provide up to an 80% profit margin and best of all -- work from home and do the work on your schedule!

Need to get up speed quickly on the vending industry? Check the link in this post for a useful, handy glossary to define many of the terms and concepts you will need to succeed in this proven industry.

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What You Need To Know To Boost Your Income

Have you wanted to try to start your own business but are you simply not yet in a position to strike out completely on your own?

The vending industry and multivend have a solution.

You can get into the vending industry with a relatively small investment -- and even for that, financing is available.

Once you've laid down your capital, you have the perfect business opportunity to become an entrepreneur on your off hours. Keep your day job and live your business dream in your spare time.

It's that simple.

Founded in 1990, Multivend is the exclusive manufacturer of the Vendstar 3000. Bulk vending machines are a 100% cash business and can provide up to an 80% profit margin. How can it be any easier to build a business so that one day soon, you can be totally your own boss?

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New Analysis Sees Men Failing to Reach Income Levels of Previous Generation

American men have less income than their fathers' generation did at the same age, according to a new analysis released by the Economic Mobility Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Comprised of a Principals' Group of experts from The American Enterprise Institute, The Brookings Institution, TheHeritage Foundation, and The Urban Institute, the project seeks to investigate the health and status of economic mobility in America.

The new report, Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?, was co-written by John Morton, managing director of Pew's Economic Policy Initiatives and director of the Economic Mobility Project and Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a principal of the Economic Mobility Project. It includes analysis led by a research team at Brookings and outlines what economic mobility is, why it matters in today's economy, and why it is important for policy makers to focus on mobility as part of the ongoing national economic debate.

According to the report, men who were in their thirties in 1974 had median incomes of about $40,000, while men of the same age in 2004 had median incomes of about $35,000 (adjusted for inflation). Thus, as a group, income for this generation of men is, on average, 12 percent lower than those of their fathers' generation. While factors other than cash income also contribute to economic mobility, these data challenge the two-century-old presumption that each successive generation will be better off than the one that came before. The findings rely on new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

In addition to the Principals' Group, the project is also guided by a nonpartisan advisory board of nationally recognized economists, social scientists and policy experts. The initiative was launched in February and comes at a period of intense scrutiny of such issues as executive pay, the minimum wage and the quality of America's public school system -- the latter being of particular concern because education is widely agreed to be a keydriver of mobility.

"The expectation that each generation will do better than their parentshas become a fundamental part of what we call 'The American Dream,' but this new analysis suggests this bedrock belief may be shifting under ourfeet," says Morton. "Income is not the only factor in overall economic mobility, but it is clearly a key component and today's data suggest thatduring a thirty-year period of economic expansion, a rising tide did not lift all boats."

"In modern America, mobility is increasingly a family enterprise," says Sawhill. "While male incomes have decreased from that of the generation that came before, family incomes have risen slightly because more women have gone to work, adding a second earner to the family."

The broader mobility story is complex with data challenges and many important questions left to be answered. Over the next year and a half, the Economic Mobility Project and its partners will research, analyze and present data to the broader public about the status of economic mobility in the United States. Future releases will include: a comprehensive fact book containing key data and trends about mobility, featuring chapters on race, gender, immigration and cross-national comparisons; a report on the leading factors or indicators behind economic mobility; and an analysis of shifting federal investments in education and other policies that may impact mobility.

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Protect Your Income

It's a cliche, but a true one: you never know what can happen.

Sure, you feel healthy but one unforeseen accident, and you are disabled and suddenly your future and your family's future is in doubt.

If you don't care about cliches, then listen to the statistics:

• If you're under age 35, chances are one in three that you will be disabled for at least six months during the course of your career.
• Men have a 43% chance of becoming seriously disabled during their working years.
• Women have a 54% chance.
• At age 42, it is four times more likely that you will become seriously disabled than that you will die during your working years.

Once you've thought about all that, then consider your need for disability insurance.

Protectyourincome.com is the leading site about disability insurance. The site will quickly and easily your questions about when and how to buy disability insurance and how much protection you need.

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US Pay Increases to Lag China, India, Eastern Europe In 2007

New research from Philadelphia-based Hay Group reveals real pay increases (adjusted for inflation) for workers in the United States will substantially lag those in China, India and Eastern Europe in 2007. US administrative, professional and senior management employees arepredicted to see real increases of just 1.4%, v. increases approaching 8%in high-growth economies.

"Much like their colleagues in Europe, US employees will be seeingrelatively modest increases in base salaries when compared to the emergingeconomies," says Iain Fitzpatrick, general manager of Hay Group's US RewardInformation Services. "Projected 2007 increases are fairly consistent with real increases seen in the US over the past several years."

Hay Group's Global Pay Day analysis, compiled using Hay GroupPayNet, one of the world's most comprehensive global pay databases, predicts real base salary increases for administrative, professional and senior management in 2007 for 50 countries worldwide, based on employers' projections once inflation has been considered. The PayNet database contains 7 million individual records from 13,000 organizations in 19 job families across a number of industries.

"The wealth created by rapid, focused economic development is resulting in a pay boom for Chinese and Indian workers, who will enjoy some of thelargest real pay increases worldwide in 2007," says Hern Yin Goh, director of Hay Group Reward Information Services in Shanghai. China tops the tables for each of the three job categories, with apredicted 7.9% increase for administrative workers, 7.8% for professionals and 8.9% for senior management.

High pay increases in India last year -- 7.2% across the board -- look set to continue into 2007. The country boasts the second highest pay increase predictions for 2007, with increases of 6.2% forecast across thethree job levels. Senior managers can anticipate a real increase of 6.9%, professionals and administrators 5.9% each, according to Hay.

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Birds of a Feather: Analysis Suggests People of Similar Income, Education Gravitate Toward Same Neighborhoods

Residential neighborhoods throughout U.S. metropolitan areas have become increasingly divided into high- and low-unemployment sections, and an analysis by an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests that people may be "sorting"themselves by both income and education.

The analysis was conducted by Christopher Wheeler, writing in theMarch/April issue of Review, the Reserve Bank's bimonthly journal of economic and business issues. The publication is also available online at the St. Louis Fed's web site.

The rate of unemployment is one of the most basic indicators used togauge the economy's health. As the economy fluctuates between periods ofexpansion and recession, corresponding changes in the rate of unemploymentare observed.

Between 1980 and 2000, the aggregate national unemployment rate fell from 6.3 percent to 3.9 percent, suggesting that workers in the United States faced better unemployment prospects in 2000 than in 1980.

"Yet, underlying these figures," says Wheeler, "is a trend that is not widely known: Unemployed workers became increasingly concentrated in certain neighborhoods within the nation's metropolitan areas. That is, neighborhoods in the United States became increasingly polarized into two groups: those with high rates of unemployment and those with low rates."

Wheeler investigated three possible explanations for this trend:

• Urban decentralization; that is, the gradual movement of people from the central cities to the suburbs. "This may have reduced the employment opportunities of households that continue to live in historical city centers," says Wheeler, "thereby creating a cluster of joblessness within those inner-cities."
• Changes in the labor market, such as declining union membership and the shift of employment away from manufacturing toward other sectors, may have reduced the employment opportunities for workers in certain neighborhoods more than others. "For example," says Wheeler, "if a city's low-to-middle-income communities are populated primarily by manufacturing workers, a decline in the manufacturing sector could result in higher unemployment in those areas. By the same token, if the residents of another neighborhood are employed predominantly in high-paying professional services, then a rise in the demand for those services may result in more jobs."
• Possible increase in the extent to which skilled and un-skilled workers are segregated across residential areas. "In other words, independent of either urban decentralization or shifts in union and industrial activity, the degree to which high- and low-skilled workers live in the same neighborhoods may have decreased over time could lead to a rising concentration of unemployed people." Analyzing unemployment data across nine broad industrial sectors, Wheeler finds little evidence to support the first two explanations. His results, however, did reveal a strong association between unemployment concentration and measures of both income segmentation and the segregation of college graduates across neighborhoods.

"A rising concentration of those who are unemployed seems to be related to an increase in the extent to which households have separated themselves into certain neighborhoods by both income and education," concludes Wheeler.


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Catholic Charities Launches Campaign To Cut Poverty In Half

Catholic Charities USA today announced a new multi-year initiative to cut poverty in half by2020, urging Congress and the Bush administration to give a much higher priority to the needs of the poor in budget and policy decisions on issues such as health care, housing, nutrition, and economic security.

"Poverty is a moral and social wound on the soul of our country and threatens the health and economic well-being of both families and our nation," Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, said at a briefing this morning on Capitol Hill. "We must marshal the strength andthe collective will of our nation to take on this tragedy that affects 37 million people who are living in poverty in one of the wealthiest nations in the world."

"The Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America is about who we are as a nation," Father Snyder said. "We must no longer ignore the injustice ofpoverty and the extreme in equality in America and instead must seize this opportunity to advocate for changes that promote human dignity and thecommon good."

The goal of Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America is to cut the poverty rate in the United States in half by 2020. Catholic Charities USA is leading a broad effort that will involve partners in social serviceagencies, the faith community, and other groups in a sustained effort to convince government officials of the importance of making systemic changes in government programs to help the poor and most vulnerable in our society.

With more than 275 years of experience in serving those living in poverty, Catholic Charities has a unique understanding of this growing problem and its devastating impact on families and the nation.

"Catholic Charities agencies provide help and offer hope to more than 7.4 million people each year, and in communities across the country, our agencies have been coping with a steady increase in demand for emergencyassistance, primarily among working families," Father Snyder said. "Each day, our agencies serve families who work hard but still do not earn enough to provide for their basic needs."

"Catholic Charities USA pledges its experience and resources to help reduce poverty in America. But, we can only succeed with the activeinvolvement of Congress and the administration. Only through partnershipsbetween government and community leaders like Catholic Charities, will we develop the capacity and the scale necessary to attack poverty in a comprehensive and sustained way," said Father Snyder.

Catholic Charities USA's Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America will urge Congress and the administration to improve programs and policies in four key issue areas: health care, affordable housing, nutritionassistance, and family economic security for the poor and vulnerable.

"Good government is about making choices and setting priorities that serve the common good, and we will work in partnership in this campaignwith Catholic organizations and other partners to encourage elected leaders to give greater priority to attending to the needs of the poorest and mostvulnerable persons in society," Father Snyder said. "Choices made in the federal budget process about what is funded -- and how to pay for it --must be judged by whether the life and dignity of families are protected or undermined."

Key components of the campaign will include sustained and comprehensive outreach to the administration and Congress as well as activities in local communities throughout the country on the need for action to reduce poverty, Catholic Charities says.


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The U.S. Economy in Review: 2006

One word—slowdown—can define the U.S. economy this past year. Economic growth and job growth both fell in 2006 from previous years as the residential housing boom came to an end. The slowdown in employment growth and economic opportunity was home grown as consumers saw rising debt payments on the record debt built up in past years.

That is according to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning Washnigton think tank.

This debt squeeze leaves less money available for key household expenditures and is already beginning to push many hardworking families over the edge amid rising loan defaults and bankruptcies.

Yet at the same time, the federal government in 2006 continued to run large deficits— financed in large part by overseas investors—resulting in higher interest payments out of the U.S. Treasury. This outflow, in turn, exacerbated an already record high trade deficit fuelled by America’s large dependence on foreign oil and rising oil prices over most of the past year.
Specific economic statistics in 2006 are as disconcerting as the overall picture as we head into 2007.

Consider the following sets of numbers from this past year:

The economy slowed:
• Economic growth slipped to 2.0 percent in the third quarter, following 2.6 percent growth in the second quarter and a surprisingly strong first quarter growth of 5.6 percent. This was the first time in more than three years that the economy registered two consecutive quarters of growth below three percent.
• Consumption growth also slipped. Consumption growth was 2.8 percent in the third quarter following a 2.6 percent increase in the second quarter. Again, this was the first time in more than three years that consumption growth was below three percent in two consecutive quarters.
• Retail sales weakened. From June 2006 to November 2006, retail sales grew each month on average by an annualized rate of 4.2 percent, down from 6.4 percent in the first six months of 2006.

The labor market weakened:

• Job growth continued to drop. In 2006, the economy added on average 149,000 new jobs per month, down from 165,000 new jobs in 2005 and 175,000 in 2006. Job growth was 14.5 percent slower in 2006 than in 2004, the year with the highest job growth in this business cycle, which started in March 2001.
• Wages made up a record low share of national income. In the third quarter, wages and salaries made up 51.4 percent of national income, the smallest share since the U.S. government began to collect this data in 1947. Total compensation, which includes benefits, dropped to the lowest share in nine years. At the same time, profits grew to the largest share of national income since 1947.

The housing boom ended:
• Home appreciations decreased. In the first three quarters of 2006, the prices of all homes grew on average by an annualized rate of 5.9 percent, the lowest growth rate in any year since 1999, down from 12.5 percent in 2005 and 11.2 percent in 2004.
• Homes no longer flew off the market. The supply of homes for sale each month averaged 6.9 months of supply for the six months ending in October 2006—the largest average supply since 1991.

Consumers felt the pinch of record debt:
• Consumer debt soared to new heights. Household debt relative to disposable income continued to rise throughout 2006, reaching a record 130.9 percent by the end of the third quarter.
• Debt payments rose to highest on record. In the second quarter of 2006, families had to spend 14.4 percent of their disposable income to service their debt—the largest share since 1980.
• Families felt the pinch. Mortgage delinquencies rose to 4.7 percent of all mortgages in the third quarter, up from 4.4 percent in the first and second quarter of 2006. The share of all mortgages in foreclosure grew to 1.1 percent of all mortgages, the highest level since the first quarter of 2005. The default rate on credit cards also rose, to 3.9 percent in the third quarter, up from 3.5 percent in the second quarter, and 3.0 percent in the first quarter. And there were 2.2 bankruptcy cases per 1,000 people in the third quarter, up from 2.0 cases in the second quarter and 1.5 cases in the first quarter—an alarming rise.

U.S. still imports vastly more than it exports:
• The trade deficit widened. By the third quarter of 2006, the difference between imports and exports had grown again to over six percent of Gross Domestic product, a feat only accomplished once since the Great Depression (in the fourth quarter of 2005).
• At the heart of the widening trade deficit was America’s dependence on foreign oil. During the first 10 months of 2006, the deficit in petroleum-related goods grew by $46.1 billion relative to the same period in 2005—or almost twice as much as the deficit with China.

The U.S. government owes massive debt to foreigners:

•The federal government remained awash in red ink. For 2006, the expected federal deficit is $260 billion. Making the Bush administration’s tax cuts permanent and introducing relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax would carry the deficit to $3.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In this scenario, the federal deficit would never dip below $284 billion, even if the costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan decline.
•Foreigners financed vast shares of the federal budget deficit. Since March 2001, when the current business cycle started, foreign investors financed 77.9 percent of the federal budget deficit. The share of Treasuries held by foreigners grew to 45.0 percent at the end of the third quarter, up from 43.8 percent in the first quarter, and 44.6 percent in the second quarter.
• The U.S. Treasury sent more money abroad. Interest payments by the federal government to foreign lenders grew to $37.3 billion in the third quarter of 2006, up from $36.4 billion in the second quarter, and $32.8 billion in the first quarter.

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